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Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 44 No. 14. July 6 1981

Bursary Picket

Bursary Picket

Mr Geoff Henry will be getting sick of us. Well, we're certainly getting sick of him. Mr Henry is the Education Depratment official who administers the day to day running of the Tertiary Assistance Grants scheme. He's the man we saw four weeks ago when students staged a sit-in at the Education Department buildings, from where we refused to move until we'd had some of our questions about the scheme answered. Most of his answers were along the lines that the scheme was under review, in consultation with the Vice Chancellor Committee and our national body, NZUSA.

With the leaking of a secret document addressed to the Minister of Education and signed by Mr Henry (dated October 1980), the Education Department's position has become embarrassing. While promising that they were in consultation with groups more in tune with the real financial conditions facing students, they had already made their own brief summary of the TAG and had proposed alternatives as policy changes. This paper would have been in the Minister's hands at the time the 1981 Budget was being drawn up. The main proposal of the document, which involved the raising of the basic grant by a few dollars and the cutting out of the Hardship Grant, was never mentioned in recent discussions between NZUSA, the VCC and Education Department representatives. The paper makes a mockery of the current 'review', and because of its date and content should be taken very seriously.

'No Comment'

Perhaps there's a simple explanation, we thought last week as we waited to speak to Mr Henry again, in the foyer of his cosy little office in Featherston Street.

I guess "no comment" could be described as simple, but it's certainly not an explanation. Student dissatisfaction with the present scheme, with the Department's inefficiency but most of all with the betrayal of good faith shown up by the exposure of the document, was expressed. Mr Henry smiled. He was saving his words for the Minister, at a meeting to be held later in the week with NZUSA where the document would be 'explained'. We live in hope.

'Education for all' Scrapped

He was still smiling as Students Association President Virginia Adams read out a statement from the document, proposing a bursary system which would "abandon forever the idea that tertiary education for tertiary education's sake was a good thing." This bursary scheme was to be based on 'vocational necessity' - that is, if the country needs more electrical engineers, then electrical engineering students should be paid a higher rate of bursary!

This sort of thinking - considered by the Education Department and thankfully rejected - is something we can do without. We look forward with interest to the Budget. But not, if NZUSA's and our dealings with the officials of the Education Department are anything to go by, with a great deal of hope.

S.J. Hibbert

Education Officer